DARPA Taps Nanotech to Treat Brain Injuries

As part of continued efforts to revolutionize the healthcare US soldiers receive while in military service, the Department of Defense (DoD) is exploring the use of nanotechnology to treat afflictions ranging from infectious diseases to traumatic brain injury more quickly.

Through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) In Vivo Nanoplatfroms for Therapeutics (IVN:Tx), the military’s research agency is seeking the development of "novel, biocompatible nanotherapeutic platforms with sequence, specificity, and function that can be programmed "on-the-fly" to treat military-relevant diseases," according to a solicitation for proposals the agency posted online.

A magnified view of IVN therapeutics on bacteria. The Defense Advanced Research Agency hopes to use nanotechnology to treat diseases and other soldier afflictions, such as traumatic brain injury. (Source: DARPA)

The intercellular platform DARPA aims to design through the project will employ new classes of nanoparticles for persistent, unobtrusive distribution to sense a patient’s physiological environment, as well as treat abnormalities, diseases, and other conditions, according to the proposal.

The platform envisioned will be adaptable and flexible, and will employ innovations such as nanoparticles coated with small interfering RNA (siRNA), said Timothy Broderick, physician and DARPA program manager, in a press release.

SiRNA can target RNA -- which plays an active role in all biological processes -- in specific cells, allowing the technology to stop processes that cause various types of diseases, as well as traumatic brain injury, Broderick said. Through this specific targeting of illness within cells, the platform can administer therapeutic, passive nanoparticles that minimize dosing required for clinical efficacy, as well as limit side effects and adverse immune system response.

The IVN:Tx program is an extension of work already being done through the original IVN program to develop nanoscale systems that sense and monitor the health of warfighters, the agency said. The new platform takes that work further by focusing on diagnosis and treatment. The agency also is targeting safety for the platform’s design. Nanoplatforms designed through the program must be biocompatible, nontoxic, and designed to eventually pass regulatory approval.

The medical community has been using therapeutics involving small molecules to treat diseases for years, but traditionally the drugs that have been developed are only effective against one disease, have significant side effects, or are expensive to create, according to DARPA.

The US military has several projects ongoing that are aimed at providing better medical treatment to soldiers or preventing illness and injury through innovative new technologies. The Dialysis Like Therapeutics (DLT) project, for example, aims to create a device that can quickly identify and cure sepsis, an often fatal blood infection to which soldiers injured on the battlefield are prone.

DARPA also has created what’s called a Blast Gauge -- a metal attachment mounted on a helmet, other individual gear, or a military vehicle -- which can measure the amount of exposure someone in the vicinity of a blast has had to more accurately diagnose brain injury.

I like the idea of future consumer technology spin-offs from these military developments and tests. My father-in-law just had a harrowing experience with a Sepsis attack that almost took his life. Quick diagnosis saved his life, so I'm hoping that more developments like these can continue to reduce response time to these diseases in the future.

Another article I've seen this month talked about the hazards of nanotechnology in the textile industry. It called out nano-silver, specifically, breaking down through use and abrasion. The particles released into the skin through sweat are thought to contribute to microbial resistance in humans.

Although different from what DARPA is looking into, it speaks to consumer acceptance. Nanotechnology has been widely embraced in many sectors but we're starting to experience a backlash. Some things moved too quickly to market before more research was complete.

Was there any info about timing? How long are trials expected to last after they choose a project to move forward?

Nice article, Elizabeth. Darpa keeps coming up with surprising new technology, much of it, as Beth points out, that can be a big benefit to the civilian world. It looks like Darpa is this generation's Bell Labs.

Lots of good stuff underway. I'm hoping that not only does DARPA solve some of these real problems, but that there is some sort of open door between the government-sponsored research and the private sector to cross-pollinate ideas and commercialize some of the more compelling technologies.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

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